A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains or may contain material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device bonus round having player selectable choices that prompt the game to generate a win, lose or draw outcome.
In known go-until gaming device bonus rounds, when a player makes a selection from a set of randomly placed masked awards, the game reveals the selected outcome, which results in the player winning an award or losing the opportunity to win further awards. For example, European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999 and assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. discloses a game in which a player has one or more opportunities to select masked bonus awards from a pattern or group of masked awards. When the player selects a masked award, the player receives the value of the award. This process continues until the player selects a masked terminator, which ends the game, whereby the player keeps the previously accumulated awards. In no instance does the selection of a randomly assigned masked award yield a neutral outcome, i.e., a tie or a draw.
In xe2x80x9cdouble upxe2x80x9d video poker gaming machines, a player can risk a currently achieved award to double the player""s award. In such games, the dealer deals the player and the dealer a card. If the player""s card beats the dealer""s card, the player obtains double the award. If the dealer""s card wins, the player gets nothing. A tie results if the dealer deals out two cards having the same rank, whereafter the player can try again. In video blackjack gaming machines, the player and the dealer can also tie.
In an attempt to make gaming devices more exciting and enjoyable for a player, gaming device manufacturers strive to make games more suspenseful or generally suspense building. One method and apparatus for making games more suspenseful includes a bonus game that provides tie or draw outcomes, which does not require a player to risk a currently achieved award.
The present invention includes a bonus round of a gaming device, which provides the player with a plurality of selections, wherein the selections prompt the gaming device to generate an outcome, and wherein the outcome can be a positive outcome for the player, a negative outcome for the player or a neutral outcome for the player. The present invention displays a plurality of choices to the player and enables the player to select one of the choices.
The game preferably includes a database of choice comparisons or a choice comparator that takes any two of the choices presented to the player and determines a winner between the two choices. The game preferably reveals which choices beat or trump which other choices. In one embodiment, the player and the game each randomly generate a choice, whereby the game provides a positive outcome to the player if the player""s choice trumps the game""s choice, the game provides a negative outcome to the player if the game""s choice trumps the player""s choice and the game provides a neutral outcome if the player""s choice is the same as or equal to the game""s choice.
In a second embodiment, the game additionally includes a database of outcomes; namely, a positive player outcome, a negative player outcome and a neutral player outcome. The game can equally weight the outcomes or weight the outcomes so that the game randomly selects one or more outcomes more often than one or more other outcomes. In this embodiment, the player makes a choice and the game randomly generates an outcome, which can be a weighted outcome.
When the game generates a positive player outcome, the game determines its appropriate choice from the comparison database and displays both its choice and the positive outcome to the player. This embodiment proceeds backwards with respect to the previous embodiment. When the game generates a negative player outcome, the game determines its appropriate choice from the comparison database and displays both its choice and the negative outcome to the player. When the game generates a neutral player outcome, the game determines its appropriate choice from the comparison database and displays both the choice and the neutral outcome to the player.
In both bonus round embodiments, the game enables the player to continue to play until a negative outcome occurs. The player keeps any prior awards from positive outcomes and does not risk achieved awards for the chance to accumulate a higher award.
The game contemplates different choice display embodiments described in detail below. In one embodiment, the game structures the choice comparisons such that each choice either trumps or is trumped by every other choice. In this embodiment, only a random selection of the same choice by the player and the game generates a neutral outcome. Or, if the game randomly selects a neutral outcome, the game has only one choice to choose, the choice that the player selected.
In another embodiment, the game structures the choice comparisons such that not every choice trumps or is trumped by every other choice. In this other embodiment, a random selection of the player""s choice or a choice not trumping or trumped by the player""s choice generates a neutral outcome. Or, if the game randomly selects a neutral outcome, the game can randomly select the choice that the player selected or a choice not trumping or trumped by the player""s choice.
It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to provide a gaming device having player selectable choices that prompt the game to generate a win, lose and draw outcome.
Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a gaming device having player selectable choices that prompt the game to generate a win, lose and draw outcome, whereby each choice trumps or is trumped by every other choice.
A further advantage of the present invention is to provide a gaming device having player selectable choices that prompt the game to generate a win, lose and draw outcome, whereby each choice does not trump or become trumped by every other choice.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is to provide a gaming device having win, lose or draw outcomes, whereby the player randomly selects a choice, the game randomly generates a choice and the game determines an outcome based on the selected and generated choices.
Still a further advantage of the present invention is to provide a gaming device having win, lose or draw outcomes, whereby the player randomly selects a choice, the game randomly generates an outcome and the game determines a choice based on the player""s selected choice and the game""s generated outcome.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.